1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retainer, and particularly to a retainer mounted on a card edge connector for retaining a daughter card in the card edge connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A card edge connector is commonly used to interconnect a daughter card to a mother board. A retainer may be used with the card edge connector to retain the daughter card in position. The retainer is normally made of a resilient material and is held to the connector by a resilient force between the connector and the retainer. Since manual assembly and disassembly of the retainer to/from the connector is difficult due to the significant resilient force exerted by the retainer, an auxiliary tool must be used.
Referring to FIG. 7, a conventional retainer 2 is assembled to a card edge connector 3 using an assembling tool 1. The conventional retainer 2 extends elongately and comprises a pair of side walls 20 and two end portions 21 connecting opposite ends of the side walls 20. The side walls 20 and the end portions 21 together define a receiving space 22 for enclosing the card edge connector 3 therein. Two pairs of latching portions 23 are formed on each side wall 20 for latching with the card edge connector 3. A handgrip 24 is formed on one end portion 21 and a projection 241 is formed on the handgrip 24 for retaining a daughter card (not shown) within the card edge connector 3. Since the receiving s pace 22 is sized just to enclose the card edge connector 3, the assembling tool 1 must be positioned on an upper face of the card edge connector 3 for guiding the retainer 2 to enclose the card edge connector 3. However, once assembled, it is difficult to disassemble the retainer 2 from the card edge connector 3. Hence, an improved retainer requiring no assembling tool which is also easy to disassemble from the card edge connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a retainer for facilitating both assembly to and disassembly from a card edge connector.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a retainer requiring no additional assembling tools to aid inassembly and disassembly of the retainer to or from a card edge connector.
A retainer for retaining a daughter card to a card edge connector comprises a pair of elongate side walls, each side wall having a first end and a second end, an end wall connected between the first ends of both side walls, a retaining portion formed at the end wall, and an interlocking device separately formed at the second ends of both side walls. The two side walls, the end wall and the interlocking device together define a receiving space for receiving the card edge connector therein.
The interlocking device comprises a first arm and a second arm separately projecting from the second end of a corresponding side wall and extending toward each other. The first arm forms a first locking portion on a free end thereof and the second arm forms a second locking portion on a free end thereof. When the retainer is assembled to the card edge connector, the side walls enclose the card edge connector and the first locking portion catches with and locks against the second locking portion to firmly retain the retainer to the card edge connector. When the retainer is to be disassembled from the card edge connector, the second arm is moved outward from the first arm so that the locking portions unlock from each other.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.